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THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  MISSION 

NUESTRA  SENORA   DEL 

REFUGIO 


BY 


HERBERT  E.  BOLTON 


Reprint  from  The  Southwestern  Historical  Quarterly,  April,   1916, 
Volume  XIX,  No.  4 


Published  by 

THE  TEXAS  STATE  HISTORICAL  ASSOCIATION 

Austin,  Texas 


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THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  MISSION  NUESTRA  SENORA  DEL 

REFUGIO 

HERBERT  E.  BOLTON 

A  short  time  ago  Professor  Barker,  of  the  University  of  Texas, 
kindly  sent  me  the  following  extract  from  the  Lamar  Papers,  in- 
forming me  that  it  was  written  by  James  Kerr,  surveyor  for 
De Witt's  Colony,  probably  between  183,7  and  1839 : 

First  Settlements  on  Matagorda  Bay 

On  the  west  bank  of  the  Garcites  Creek, — and  is  called  to  this 
day  old  La.  Bahia  and  about  one  and  half  league  above  its  mouth 
are  to  be  seen  the  ruins  of  a  fort  and  village,  said  to  be  the  first 
settlement  of  La  Salle,  and  is  that  settlement  no  doubt  which  some 
have  represented  as  founded  on  the  Lavaca  river  or  river  of  Cows — 
La  Salle  or  the  Jesuits  who  came  with  him  built  a  Mission  on 
the  margin  of  the  bay  del  espiritu  Santo  and  about  800  yards 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Guadalupe  river — some  of  the  posts  and 
other  ruins  are  remaining  to  this  day.1 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  first  statement  by  Kerr  confirms  the 
identification  which  I  have  recently  made  of  the  location  of  La 
Salle's  colony.2  In  his  second  statement,  however,  Kerr  is  evi- 
dently in  error.  The  ruins  to  which  he  refers,  I  conjecture,  were 
those  of  Mission  Nuestra  Senora  del  Refugio,  at  its  first  site, 
before  its  removal  to  Copano  Bay.  Apropos  of  Kerr's  note,  and 
since  the  fact  that  this  mission  once  existed  near  the  lower  Guad- 
alupe seems  never  to  have  been  recorded  in  history,  I  submit  the 
following  brief  and  tentative  sketch  of  the  beginnings  of  the  estab- 
lishment. It  was  written  some  two  years  ago  in  answer  to  an 
inquiry  by  a  friend,  and  makes  no  pretense  at  completeness  or 
finality.  It  is  based  on  considerable  manuscript  material  in  my 
possession.  I  have  not  had  opportunity  as  yet  to  fully  digest  all 
of  this  material,  but  since  it  may  be  some  time  before  I  can  give 
the  matter  further  attention,  I  offer  the  note  to  Quarterly  readers 
with  the  hope  that  it  may  justify  the  space  assigned  it. 

1Lamar  Papers,   No.    1642,   Miss   West's   Calendar,   Anonymous   notes. 
^Austin  American,  July  19,  1914;    Mississippi  Valley  Historical  Review, 
II,   165-182,   September,   1915. 


— 2— 

The  founding  of  the  mission  of  Nuestra  Senora  del  Kefugio 
was  closely  connected  with  plans  for  Texas  of  great  breadth  and 
importance;  or,  it  might  be  said,  its  founding  was  the  slender 
outcome  of  these  larger  plans,  which  had  to  be  set  aside  by  force 
of  untoward  circumstances. 

Its  inception  reaches  back  many  years  before  1790,  but  it  was 
in  that  year  that  the  developments  began  which  led  immediately 
to  the  establishment  of  the  mission.  The  proximate  occasion  seems 
to  have  been  inter-college  rivalry.  In  1790  news  reached  the  Col- 
lege of  Guadalupe  de  Zacatecas  that  the  College  of  Pachuca  had 
asked  permission  to  enter  northern  Texas  to  undertake  missionary 
work.  This  led  "the  Apostolic  emulation"  of  the  members  of  the 
College  of  Guadalupe,  who  already  had  more  than  twenty  missions 
in  various  parts  of  New  Spain,  to  renew  their  efforts  in  northern 
Texas.  It  was  asserted  in  the  college  that  it  had  never  abandoned 
the  field  in  question,  and  that  the  sister  college  would  be  an  inter- 
loper. As  a  result  of  several  meetings  of  the  Discretorio,  Fray 
Manuel  Julio  de  Silva,  who  had  recently  been  elected  to  the  high 
office  of  comisario  y  prefecto  of  the  missions  of  New  Spain,  was 
authorized  to  undertake  the  launching  of  a  broad  program  for 
work  among  the  Tawakoni,  Kichai,  Taguayas,  Tonkawa,  Comanche, 
and  other  northern  tribes,  none  of  whom  had  been  under  mis- 
sionary influence.  In  other  words,  the  field  of  northern  Texas 
opened  by  De  Mezieres  through  his  recent  journeys  had  attracted 
the  attention  of  the  college. 

Father  Silva  accepted  the  charge,  and.  chose  as  his  companion 
Father  Jose  Mariano  Garza,  who  had  figured  in  the  founding  of 
the  town  of  Pilar  de  Bucareli  on  the  Trinity  Eiver,  and  who  had 
subsequently  served  at  Nacogdoches.  Leaving  Zacatecas  by  dif- 
ferent routes,  on  January  1,  1791,  the  two  met  at  the  Hospice  of 
Boca  de  Leones.  Continuing  thence,  they  reached  La  Bahia  (now 
Goliad)   on  February  19,  1791. 

At  the  outset  the  great  scheme  for  northern  Texas  was  inter- 
fered with  by  one  of  the  ever-present  difficulties  of  the  Indian  sit- 
uation. It  was  at  this  time  that  Colonel  Ugalde,  comandante  of 
the  Eastern  Interior  Provinces,  was  undertaking  his  campaigns 
against  the  Lipan,  and  the  authorities  would  permit  no  expedition 
to  the  northern  tribes.  In  consequence,  Fathers  Silva  and  Garza 
turned  their  attention  to  a  lesser  problem,  as  a  temporary  occu- 


— 3— 

pation.  Just  at  this  time  the  mission  of  Nuestra  Seriora  del 
Rosario,  near  La  Bahia,  which  had  several  times  been  abandoned, 
was  in  the  process  of  revival,  and  Fathers  Silva  and  Garza  took 
a  hand  in  the  work  while  they  were  waiting  for  larger  things. 

The  efforts  to  secure  neophytes  for  the  mission  of  Nuestra 
Senora  del  Rosario  unexpectedly  opened  the  way  to  the  founding 
of  a  new  mission  for  the  Karankawan  tribes  of  the  coast.  On 
March  31,  1791,  Frcsada  Pinta,  a  heathen  Karankawa  chief,  ap- 
peared at  Mission  Rosario.  On  leaving  he  promised  to  return 
ten  days  later  with  an  escort,  to  conduct  Father  Silva  to  visit  his 
people.  In  fact,  he  reappeared  on  April  7  with  twenty-four  war- 
riors. On  the  tenth  they  set  out,  accompanied  by  five  soldiers  and 
two  mission  Indians.  On  the  twelfth  they  reached  the  village  of 
Fresada  Pinta,  which  was  a  settlement  of  considerable  size. 

Father  Silva  said  nothing  about  founding  a  mission,  but  de- 
voted his  attention  only  to  making  friends  with  the  heathen.  When 
he  left  it  was  with  the  promise  from  the  Indians  that  they  would 
always  receive  the  missionaries  well,  even  though  the  Karankawa 
should  be  at  war  with  the  soldiers.  From  this  place  Father  Silva 
passed  on  to  the  village  of  another  chief,  named  Llano  Grande, 
where  the  same  diplomatic  policy  was  observed.  Here  he  met 
some  apostates  from  Mission  Rosario,  and  took  them  back  to  the 
mission,  promising  to  return  to  visit  all  the  villages  of  the  coast. 

Father  Silva  was  now  recalled  to  Zacatecas  to  preach  the  ser- 
mon of  the  provincial  chapter,  and,  being  unable  to  return  to 
Texas,  he  put  the  work  with  the  Karankawa  into  the  hands  of 
Father  Garza,  as  his  deputy.  Father  Garza  made  several  more 
visits  to  the  coast,  but  as  yet  saicl  nothing  about  missions,  leav- 
ing the  request  to  come  from  the  Indians.  On  October  24,  1791, 
the  hoped  for  petition  was  made.  When  Father  Garza  returned 
from  the  coast  to  Rosario  on  that  day  with  fifty-two  apostates  in 
his  train,  he  found  awaiting  him  Fresada  Pinta,  desirous  of  taking 
him  again  to  his  village.  At  just  the  same  time  Father  Garza  was 
sent  for  by  Chief  Llano  Grande.         B*HXOft  Librar* 

Setting  out  with  Fresada  Pinta,  Father  Garza  reached  the  vil- 
lage on  October  28,  finding  there  one  hundred  and  twenty-four 
persons,  assembled  for  the  express  purpose  of  asking  for  a  mission 
in  their  own  country,  in  order  that  they  might  not  be  obliged  to 
leave  the  coast.     Passing  on,  Father  Garza  reached  the  village  of 


Llano  Grande  on  the  30th.  This  village  was  located  at  the  junc- 
tion of  the  San  Antonio  with  the  Guadalupe.  Here,  too,  was  an 
assemblage  of  Indians,  likewise  clamoring  for  a  mission,  for  which 
they  chose  a  site  near  the  spot,  called  by  Garza  Refugio,  because 
he  had  been  there  on  July  17,  1791. 

Returning  to  La  Bahia,  Garza  reported  to  Governor  Munoz 
and  requested  his  aid.  The  governor  asked  for  a  report  on  the 
site,  that  he  might  use  it  as  a  basis  for  a  report  to  Mexico.  This 
was  on  November  22.  Without  waiting  for  the  report,  Munoz 
sent  Garza's  letter  to  the  viceroy,  who  called  a  junta  on  January 
4,  1792.  The  junta,  without  waiting  for  further  reports,  ordered 
the  founding  of  the  desired  mission.  This  was  unusually  prompt 
work. 

Father  Silva  went  from  Zacatecas  to  the  City  of  Mexico,  reach- 
ing there  after  the  founding  of  the  mission  had  been  ordered. 
But  he  proposed,  as  a  means  of  carrying  out  his  larger  project, 
the  secularization  of  Mission  Valero  and  several  other  old  mis- 
sions on  the  Texas  frontier. 

Returning  to  Texas  affairs,  it  may  be  said  that  Father  Garza 
in  August  went  again  to  the  coast,  where  he  found  208  Indians 
at  Muelle  Vie  jo  (Old  Wharf),  where  he  left  them  while  he  re- 
turned to  La  Bahia.  Muelle  Vie  jo  seems  to  have  been  at  the  vil- 
lage or  near  the  village  of  Llano  Grande.  In  December  Presi- 
dent Lopez  called  Garza  to  San  Antonio  to  see  about  carrying 
out  the  order,  which  had  arrived  from  Mexico,  to  found  the  new 
mission.  In  January,  1793,  Father  Garza  returned,  now  in  com- 
pany with  Governor  Munoz  and  Father  Velasco  to  Muelle  Vie  jo 
to  found  the  mission,  rinding  at  the  spot  138  persons,  the  rest 
having  dispersed  to  hunt  subsistence. 

Munoz  wished  to  found  the  mission  on  February  2,  but  the 
friars  preferred  to  wait  till  the  4th,  Refugio's  day.3  The  governor 
insisted,  the  fathers  yielded,  and  it  was  planned  to  perform  the 
ceremony  on  February  3 ;  but  a  storm  arose,  and  the  patron  saint 
had  her  way,  the  mission  being  founded  on  the  4th,  with  238 
Indians.  At  this  time  temporary  buildings  were  put  up.  The 
site  was  near  the  junction  of  the  San  Antonio  and  the  Guadalupe. 

8I  do  not  turn  aside  here  to  identify  the  saints'  days  mentioned,  but 
merely  summarize  Father  Garza's   statements. 


— 5— 

Thus  was  founded  a  ninth  mission  near  the  little  stream  called 
the  San  Antonio  River. 

It  is  a  matter  of  interest  to  note  that  the  Countess  of  Valenciana 
had  promised  to  bear  all  of  the  expenses  for  the  mission,  but  for 
some  reason  she  changed  her  mind,  and  the  Lady  of  Refuge  re- 
mained, as  Father  Garza  put  it,  "sole  patroness/' 

Some  difficulties  soon  arose  regarding  the  choice  of  the  site.  The 
consequence  was  that  on  November  21,  1794,  the  commandant- 
general  of  the  Interior  Provinces  gave  orders  for  transferring  the 
mission  to  a  place  designated  by  Father  Silva.  On  December  7 
of  the  same  year  Governor  Munoz  delegated  this  task  to  Juan 
Cortes,  of  La  Bahia.  The  order  was  carried  out  in  1795.  This 
explains  why  the  ruins  of  Mission  Refugio  are  at  the  Copano  Bay 
and  not  at  the  mouth  of  the  San  Antonio.  It  seems  probable,  on 
the  other  hand,  that  the  name  Mission  Bay,  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Guadalupe  River,  is  a  permanent  mark  of  the  brief  career  of  the 
mission  in  that  localitv. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

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http://www.archive.org/details/beginningsofmissOOboltrich 


■  i  oinuer 

■      Gay  lord  Bros. 
Makers 
'     Syracuse,  N.  ¥ 

PAT.  JAN  21,  1908 


